| K. Serbs to get Christmas Eve escort |
| 6 January 2009 | 15:58
| Source:
Beta |
GRAČANICA --
The residents of Gračanica and neighboring villages will be provided with KFOR and Kosovo police, KPS, escorts today.
 | Kosovo Serb girls near Gračanica today (Beta)
|
They will get protection as they venture outdoors to cut badnjaks (yule logs) for Christmas.
Serbs will this year too, under police escort, be able to cut badnjaks from the right-hand side of the Prština-Gnjilane main road, from Gračanica Lake to the Androvački Bridge, and on the left-hand side near the town of Ploče.
The central celebration of Christmas Eve will be held in the Gračanica monastery in Kosovo and Metohija. The service will be followed by the burning of the badnjak.
Christmas Eve will be marked by sanctifying and igniting the badnjak in other parts of Kosovo.
Serbs in northern Kosovo will be cutting badnjaks from the early morning hours, while Orthodox believers living in central Kosovo may do so throughout the day, Radio KIM learned at the police station in Gračanica.
Metohija Serbs will celebrate Christmas in very difficult conditions, as in previous years. Most people cut badnjaks in their villages, with no KFOR or police officers present.
In this and previous years, Kosovo Serbs will celebrate Christmas under a very severe power reduction regime. In most Serb, but also a large number of ethnic Albanian villages, power is shut down with no schedule or announcements, with the cuts lasting up to five hours.
Christmas Eve is a holiday celebrated within the family. Dinner is served on hay in remembrance of Christ's birth. The dinner is always Lenten, but rich.
Christians believe Christmas Eve is a good opportunity for reconciliation and overcoming misunderstandings from the previous year.
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